The United States Department of Homeland Security announced on July 22 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer asking North Carolina officials not to release from jail an illegal alien who has been charged with a fatal hit-and-run that killed three people.
According to local reporting, the crash occurred on July 18 in Salisbury. The Salisbury Police Department responded to a collision involving two vehicles. Two occupants of one vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene, while a third occupant was airlifted for medical treatment but later died from injuries. The second vehicle was found nearby, and law enforcement used a K-9 unit to locate the driver after he attempted to flee.
After being transferred to a hospital for treatment, Javiel Pena Sola, identified as a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, was charged with three counts of felony hit-and-run involving serious injury or death. ICE lodged a detainer on July 22 requesting that North Carolina officials not release him from Rowan County Jail.
Sola’s criminal history includes prior convictions for reckless endangerment, failure to stop after an accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, and driving without a license in Maryland in July 2015. He was also arrested for escaping from custody. After his arrest in Maryland on the charge of escaping custody, Baltimore officials honored an ICE detainer and turned him over to ICE custody in March 2016; he was released by the Obama Administration two months later in May.
“This criminal illegal alien from El Salvador is facing felony charges after a hit-and-run that killed three people in North Carolina,” said Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “His criminal history includes prior convictions in 2015 for hit and run, reckless endangerment, and driving without a license. Although ICE had arrested him in 2016, the Obama Administration RELEASED him into American communities. These deaths were 100% preventable. Open borders and sanctuary policies have deadly consequences.”
Sola claims he illegally entered the United States through Arizona in April 2002.